The Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing today in Washington, D.C. on “The Threat of Data Theft to American Consumers.” Declining an opportunity to appear in person, Sony Deputy President Kazuo Hirai supplied written answers to subcommittee questions about the recent attacks on Sony’s PlayStation Network.

According to Sony spokesperson Patrick Seybold, Sony followed four principles to deal with the cyber attack: “Act with care and caution,” “provide relevant information to the public when it has been verified,” “take responsibility for our obligations to our customers,” and “work with law enforcement authorities.”

Sony called the attack “criminal,” “very carefully planned,” “very professional,” and “highly sophisticated.” More or less what they’ve been saying all along (well, with more adverbs, anyway).

Here’s a wrinkle we hadn’t heard: Sony says the intruder(s) “planted” a file on a Sony Online Entertainment server. The file was named “Anonymous” (same as the anti-Sony hacker group) and contained the words “We are Legion.”